By Bruce Nilles, Director, and Mary Anne Hitt, Deputy Director, Sierra Club’s Move Beyond Coal Campaign

Just a few weeks ago we discussed a controversial court decision that could unleash a new wave of mountaintop removal coal mining permits. Now, it’s time for you to take action, and film star Ashley Judd has joined us in sending out the call for help far and wide.

In the past 24 hours, almost 30,000 people have answered that call, asking the Obama Administration to step in and protect the mountains, streams and people of Appalachia.

On our special web site you can ask the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to freeze the permitting of any new mines. Action-takers can also request that the EPA provide long-term protection for the waterways and communities of Appalachia by initiating a rulemaking process to prevent the use of mining waste as fill material.

In the wake of the devastating February court decision, Ashley Judd teamed up with the Sierra Club to step up the campaign to end mountaintop removal coal mining. With a new personal letter, video and this online “take-action,” Ashley Judd is asking the Obama Administration to prevent the issue of new permits to bury streams, and to end mountaintop removal once and for all.

Judd grew up in Eastern Kentucky and is like so many other Appalachia residents: tired of seeing such a beautiful place destroyed for coal.

 â€œOur mountains are our heritage and our legacy to future generations,” she said. “But big coal companies are using explosives to literally blow the tops off the mountains, extract the coal and destroy Appalachia.”

Judd is joining us for this online campaign, which also includes a powerful video featuring her speech at a rally organized by our friends at Kentuckians For The Commonwealth and scenes of mountaintop removal coal mining. The campaign web site also includes pictures, fact sheets and a link to contact the Obama Administration.

EPA estimates that, to date, close to 2,000 miles of streams have been contaminated or destroyed by mountaintop removal, and communities throughout the Appalachian region suffer daily from contaminated drinking water, increased flooding, and a decimated landscape.

In the video, Judd uses the word “trauma” to describe her experience seeing firsthand the annihilation of Appalachian communities where mountaintops have been blasted off and the waste dumped into rivers and valleys. The Sierra Club – the nation’s oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization – has been working with communities on the ground in Appalachia to end this destructive practice.

Won’t you help us?